Welcome to the KING website! The website has been designed to provide useful information and tools for workers compensation / risk management in elder care organizations. Members of KING have access to a “Members Only” section that will require their user I.D. and password. Please take a moment to become familiar with the website. If you have any difficulties or have suggestions or questions, please give us a call. Thanks for visiting and please have a safe day!

What's New?

KING Holds 27th Annual MeetingOn April 28, KING held its 27th Annual Meeting during the LeadingAge Kansas Spring Conference in Wichita. After a delicious lunch, members received the annual financial and investment report, and the Third Party Administrator report from Ed Reasoner with Thomas McGee. Ed's report included slides that illustrated the historical performance of KING as well as state and national trends. The KING Board Class of 2020 was elected including John Hull (1st term), HR Coordinator with Lakeview Village (Lenexa); Ron Ratzlaff (2nd term), VP of Human Resources with Larksfield Place (Wichita); and Michael Smith (2nd term), Administrator at Wheat State Manor (Whitewater). Kevin McFarland recognized several KING members for their excellence in loss control during the 2016-17 policy year. Retiring from the KING Board, Lowell Peachey, Executive Director of Mennonite Friendship Communities in South Hutchinson was recognized for his dedication to the KING program. Lowell served six years on the Board and held the positions of the Secretary/Treasurer and Chairperson.

During the KING Board meeting held on April 27, Michael Smith was elected Chair of the Board for the 2017-18 year. Janell Wohler, Administrator at Linn Community Nursing Home, was elected Secretary/Treasurer.

STAR 2.0 AvailableSTAR 2.0 was unveiled at the recently held KING Rounds. Copies of the Train the Trainer DVD and printed modules will be delivered to you by your Loss Control Consultant and trainings will be scheduled. STAR 2.0 contains all the original modules with the addition of “Finding a Resident on the Floor” and “Handling Bariatric Residents”.

Kansas Work Comp Rates to Drop in 2017Kansas Insurance Commissioner Ken Selzer announced that many business owners in the state will pay less for workers’ compensation insurance in 2017. It will be the second consecutive year for workers’ comp rate decreases in Kansas.

Many of the approximately 65,000 Kansas businesses that purchase workers’ compensation insurance will be affected by the decreases, according to the Kansas Insurance Department.

The 2017 rate filing by the National Council on Compensations Insurance Inc. (NCCI) for workers’ comp shows a decrease of 8.4 percent in the voluntary base rate and a decrease of 7.8 percent for assigned risk workers’ compensation rates. Adding together the rate decreases Kansas business owners saw in 2016, over a two-year period, the rates will have dropped 20 percent in the voluntary base rate and 18 percent in the assigned risk rate.

Voluntary workers’ compensation base rates are used by all insurance companies writing workers’ comp in the competitive market. Assigned risk rates are used for insured businesses in the Kansas Assigned Risk Plan, a state organization for those businesses who are unable to obtain coverage in the competitive market.

In the voluntary market, there was a 7.2 percent drop in experience (the number of claims filed for the three most recent policy years), and a 2 percent drop in medical and indemnity trends. Increases in benefits, and loss adjustment expense made the total an 8.4 percent overall decrease.

In Kansas, 65 percent of workers’ compensation benefit distribution goes to pay medical claims, and 35 percent goes to indemnity claims, according to statistics from the NCCI.

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About KING

KING is a group-funded workers compensation pool formed under Kansas statute 44-581. KING's formation began in the late 1980's in response to members' need when faced with shrinking insurance options and soaring worker compensation premiums.

KING is a non-profit 501 (c) 4 corporation that began offering workers compensation coverage to members on April 1, 1990. KING now insures between 65 and 70 LeadingAge Kansas members generating over $3 Million in premium annually. LeadingAge Kansas staff provides management services and oversight of the KING program.

KING Pays. Kansas statute allows group-funded workers compensation pools like KING to return unused premium in dividends to members that qualify. To date, KING members have received over $6 Million in dividends over the years. Annually, KING members that experience no claims or no indemnity claims are recognized during KING's annual awards program.

KING's success is tied directly to loss control. KING provides members professional loss prevention services tailor made to fit member needs. Services include in-service training, accident analysis and regional safety seminars.

KING members are leaders in safe working practices. Members who implement a "safe-lift" working environment receive a valuable premium discount. Over half of all KING members have a "safe-lift" designation.

KING Early Intervention program provides immediate nurse case management when necessary. This helps the injured employee receive the appropriate care as soon as possible and provides valuable communication to the member and claims adjuster. Each member's "return to work" program is analyzed and fortified so an injured worker can get back on the job quicker.

KING members submit reports of injury electronically to our claims administrator. Each month members are sent via email specific loss reports to help analyze and proactively respond to incident trends. Additionally, all members receive a current monthly loss ratio report for the entire pool that includes previous policy years.